When cleaning a hard surface in the kitchen or bathroom, for example the floor, sink, bath or working surface used for food preparation, it is convenient for reasons of hygiene to employ a wiping article such as a nonwoven cloth, or a paper kitchen roll, for mopping up spills or for cleaning soil from the surface. Such wiping articles can be used in the dry state if employed for removal of aqueous or fatty liquid spills, or in a wet or damp state if the surface to be cleaned is relatively dry.
Whether used wet or dry, such wiping articles perform more effectively in the presence of a detergent active compound which will generally be applied separately to the wiping article or to the surface at the time of use.
It has been proposed in German No. OLS 2 625 176 (Schickedanz) to provide a cleaning cloth for hard surfaces manufactured from nonwoven fabric containing a supply of meltable active detergent in the form of stripes applied superficially to the fabric from the molten state. A water insoluble hydrophobic plastic can be applied to the fabric to divide it into a portion having the detergent coating and an untreated portion having no detergent.
Such cleaning cloths do, however, suffer from the disadvantage that when used in the presence of water to clean a hard surface, the detergent active with which they are impregnated tends to be leached out and washed away leaving the article exhausted of soap or detergent after only a single use. Such cleaning cloths also can disintegrate, particularly when paper of low wet strength is employed in their manufacture.
Alternatively, when taking a shower, it is usual for the whole of the body surface, including the hair, to be sprayed with water. Conventionally, a soap bar or a semi-liquid shower gel preparation containing liquid detergent is used to form a lather on the skin surface to promote cleaning. It is also usual to employ a liquid or semi-liquid shampoo for cleaning the hair during the showering routine. It is accordingly traditional to employ at least one and frequently two products for cleaning the body surface when showering, and neither of these is particularly convenient to use, for the soap bar can easily slip from the fingers and the bottle or other container of shower gel or shampoo can be knocked over or dropped, with obvious inconvenience and wastage of product.
It would accordingly be advantageous to provide a means whereby these disadvantages could be avoided and showering made more convenient.
It has been proposed to impregnate a fibrous paper tissue or cloth with a detergent formulation for use in hand dishwashing or for bathing the baby. In both cases, however, a relatively small amount of water is involved, and therefore the quantity of detergent held by the paper tissue or cloth is inadequate for use where a larger volume of running water is involved, such as when showering.
It has also been proposed in European Patent Application No. 0 068 516 (Barbey & Hecken) to provide a disposable wash cloth made from cellulose plastics, fabric or paper in the form of a pouch to fit over the hand for use when bathing, the wash cloth containing a cleaning composition based on sodium lauryl ether sulphate (10%), N-.beta.-hydroxyethyl-N-.beta.-carboxyethyl fatty acid amidoethylamine sodium salt (5%), and coconut fatty acid diethanolamide (2%).
It has also been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4 303 543 (Procter & Gamble) to provide a dry article for cleaning the skin, the article comprising an absorbent paper or woven or nonwoven cloth impregnated with a composition comprising a soap and a stearyl ammonium laurate or stearate skin conditioning agent.
Such prior art articles do, however suffer from the disadvantage that if used to clean the body surface when showering, the soap or detergent active with which they are impregnated tends to be leached out and washed away prematurely leaving the article exhausted of soap or detergent before cleaning is complete. Such articles also tend to disintegrate in use, particularly when paper of low wet strength is employed in their manufacture.
It is accordingly apparent from the foregoing that prior proposals describing detergent-impregnated wiping cloths for use in cleaning either hard surfaces of the type found in the kitchen or bathroom, or the body surface, for example when taking a shower, suffer from a common problem in that the detergent tends to be leached out rapidly in use with the result that such wiping cloths have a relatively short life and are in any case not reusable.
In order to overcome problems such as those outlined above, we have now developed an improved detergent-impregnated wiping article for use particularly in the presence of water when cleaning soiled surfaces, which article is capable of releasing detergent active in a controlled manner, such that the article can be used over an extended period of time or on several separate occasions before the detergent active is exhausted and the article disposed of. During use, release of the detergent active is controlled by a moisture barrier applied to at least part of the surface of the article. The article also has a wet strength such that it is resistant to disintegration when employed under normal conditions of use when cleaning a soiled surface. After use, the article can if appropriate be rinsed briefly with water to remove soil before being used again.